Scholarship- Manuscripts -

Composer Franz Schubert made a long lasting impact upon western art music history with his memorable and emotional melodies, as well as his unique way of sonically telling a story. Though his ability to construct impressive orchestra works is well respected, it has been argued that it is in the area of lieder that Schubert’s supreme talent as a composer and storyteller exhibits itself (Osborne, 1977). Schubert could take a vibrant poem from a famous poet like J.W. Goethe and give the story and characters even greater depth, freeing the story from the constrains of the written word into a sonic life. Steen (2003) put it this way: “[i]t is almost as if the poem was a landscape, whereas the song was the landscape painting, the work of art” (pp. 211-212). Many contemporary composers, songwriters, musical artists, and music video directors go to great lengths to achieve the kind of storytelling efficiency that Schubert seemed to tackle effortlessly.

​To my students, the music that they take ownership of and revere can be easily lumped into one of two categories; dance tunes and story songs. During in-class discussions and one-onone conversations about musical preference, students often express how they choose music that can capture their imagination by giving them an understandable story, have catchy melodies or micro-melodies, and that affects them emotionally in some way. Some of their favorite artists like Taylor Swift, Adele, Green Day, and Eminem rely upon story-based songs. In an attempt to help my students understand one historic figure that may have had a major impact upon the music they enjoy and in hopes of expanding their musical appreciation, we explored a heavily story-based and emotional lieder of composers like Schubert. Of all of Schubert’s works, his